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Research

Human evolution is a field of biolgical research
concerned with the origin of humans. Homo sapiens and its ancestors are at
the core but comparative analyses also include great apes, other primates, and mammals. Human Evolution is part of the
discipline "physical anthropology" and requires a multidisciplinary
approach involving evolutionary biology, primatology, genetics,
paleoecology, geology, mathematics, linguistics, and others. The
research at our department comprises:

We would like to achieve a comprehensive process based on
integrative questions involving multiple values, scales, tenures,
uses, and needs.

We therefore refer to interdisciplinarity in more than a serial way
concerning on the one hand the scientific research process itself and
the involvement of scientists as citizens and citizens as
scientists.

In this working group we are interested in the biological
characteristics defining Homo sapiens as a unique species - in the
evolutionary origin, the processes, and the products of these features.
As none of these can be explained exhaustively in the context of
physical anthropology alone, we operate at intersection of
bio-anthropology, human behavior, social anthropology, reproductive and
behavioral ecology and Darwinian Medicine. From here we study selected
causes (e.g., socio-cultural, economic, ecological, hormonal) of the
modern human physical variation as well as their (behavioral and
psychological) effects. In particular proximate determinants of these
linkages and their long-term significance for reproduction, nutrition,
health, disease and mortality are focused on.

Human Behavior Research is a field of biological research concerned
with the analysis of human behavior from an evolutionary point of view
— the application of the principles of evolutionary theory to the study
of human behavioral diversity. The design of traits, behaviors, and
perceptions are examined as functional products of natural or sexual
selection. On this basis, we attempt to explain human behavior as an
adaptive solution to ecological and social constraints such as the
competing life-history demands of development, mate acquisition,
reproduction, parental care.

Bioanthropology, or human biology, comprises studies of the
evolutionary, developmental, and comparative biology of living humans.
The members of this working group include Fred Bookstein, Harald
Wilfing, Martin Fieder, Karl Grammer, Elisabeth Oberzaucher and Bernard
Wallner. Among the concerns and research thrusts of this group are

The aim of this working group is to analyze
demographic and pro-social effects in relation to
reproductive output, physiological stress perception, and social
hierarchy.

The theoretical rational of this group is based
on Darwinian and sociobiological approaches to improve the
understanding of our own species and our nearest relatives - the
non-human primates. Methodologically, large scale data of divers
population groups are analyzed and experimental set ups are
designed.

The goal of this group is to establish a new
research topic in anthropology by integrating the fields of demography
and behavioral biology into a cohesive evolutionary concept.